New Zealand miss the Bond factor

Winning a Test series in South Africa, unless you're Australia, has proved a daunting task. Since their readmission to international cricket in 1992, South Africa have lost only four of 27 series at home. On their current tour of South Africa, New Zealand's task got tougher when they lost Shane Bond to injury midway through the first Test. Without him they have fared poorly in the past and it was no different this time; they lost in Johannesburg by 358 runs, and by an innings and 58 runs in Centurion. This week we look at how a player's presence or absence has affected the performance of a team.

Bond has missed more Tests than he has played because of an injury-filled career, but of the 17 that he has played, New Zealand have won nine , drawn six, and lost only two, which includes the recent Johannesburg defeat during which he sustained his most recent injury. The only other defeat was against Sri Lanka in Wellington in 2006. Without Bond, New Zealand's Test record is extremely poor; they've played 27, won six and lost 13.

Bond's record is comparable to that of another legendary New Zealand fast bowler. Richard Hadlee did not miss nearly as many Tests as Bond but New Zealand did not win a single Test out of the 14 (drew eight, lost six) that he missed during his career. Of Hadlee's 86 Tests, New Zealand won 22 and lost 28.

Best record by a player for a team compared to matches missed for that team - Tests (qualification: 10 matches played, 10 matches missed)

Player	Span	P	W	D	L	Car%		Missed	W	D	L	Miss%		Diff
JM Brearley (Eng)	1976-1981	39	21	12	6	77.7		19	1	10	8	11.1		66.66
RK Chauhan (India)	1993-1998	21	12	9	0	100.0		18	3	9	6	33.3		66.66
RH Spooner (Eng)	1905-1912	10	5	5	0	100.0		26	10	2	14	41.6		58.33
BH Pairaudeau (WI)	1953-1957	13	5	6	2	71.4		10	1	3	6	14.2		57.14
DM Jones (Aus)	1984-1992	52	19	24	8	69.6		24	3	8	13	18.7		50.89
CEL Ambrose (WI)	1988-2000	98	44	28	26	62.8		10	1	2	7	12.5		50.35
SE Bond (NZ)	2001-2007	17	9	6	2	81.8		27	6	8	13	31.5		50.23
GA Bartlett (NZ)	1961-1968	10	3	4	3	50.0		21	0	10	11	0.0		50.00
IVA Richards (WI)	1974-1991	121	63	39	19	76.8		18	2	11	5	28.5		48.25
SB Joshi (India)	1996-2000	15	6	6	3	66.6		26	3	11	12	20.0		46.66
RJ Hadlee (NZ)	1973-1990	86	22	36	28	44.0		14	0	8	6	0.0		44.00
JV Coney (NZ)	1974-1987	52	17	22	13	56.6		21	2	6	13	13.3		43.33
P Lever (Eng)	1970-1975	17	6	10	1	85.7		36	9	15	12	42.8		42.85
CH Lloyd (WI)	1966-1985	110	43	45	22	66.1		18	1	14	3	25.0		41.15
RIC Holder (WI)	1997-1999	11	3	6	2	60.0		11	2	1	8	20.0		40.00
GS Chappell (Aus)	1970-1984	87	38	30	19	66.6		33	7	7	19	26.9		39.74
DAJ Holford (WI)	1966-1977	24	8	14	2	80.0		50	13	18	19	40.6		39.37

Mike Brearley wasn't a match-winning batsman - he averaged 22.88 - but England's record in matches which he didn't play in illustrates how valuable he, and his captaincy, were to the team. England won 21 out of 39 Tests with Brearley in the team, and only one out of 19 without him.

The presence of two Indian spinners, Rajesh Chauhan and Sunil Joshi, in the table above is because they've played most of their Tests at home and were omitted from touring squads, at a time when India had an appalling overseas record. Joshi played nine of his 15 Tests at home, and of his six overseas Tests one was in Bangladesh and four were on extremely flat, draw-inducing, West Indian pitches in 1996-97. Chauhan holds the record for having played the most Tests - 21 - without ever having lost one. Sixteen of those were played in India while four of his five overseas Tests were in Sri Lanka.

Sanjay Manjrekar features high among players whose teams have lost more matches with them in the XI, and won more without them, for exactly the opposite reason. India have won only seven, drawn 17, and lost 13 of Manjrekar's 37 Tests of which 27 were away from home. Thirteen of the 17 Tests that Manjrekar missed were at home and India lost only one of them.

Worst record by a player for a team compared to matches missed for that team - Tests (qualification: 10 matches played, 10 matches missed)

Player	Span	P	W	D	L	Car%		Missed	W	D	L	Miss%		Diff
Asif Masood (Pak)	1969-1977	16	0	11	5	0.0		12	3	8	1	75.0		-74.99
Mohammad Nazir (Pak)	1969-1983	14	0	11	3	0.0		68	20	32	16	55.5		-55.55
SV Manjrekar (India)	1987-1996	37	7	17	13	35.0		17	9	7	1	90.0		-54.99
AIC Dodemaide (Aus)	1987-1992	10	1	6	3	25.0		32	16	12	4	80.0		-54.99
Sikander Bakht (Pak)	1976-1983	26	5	10	11	31.2		25	11	12	2	84.6		-53.36
NAM McLean (WI)	1998-2001	19	1	5	13	7.1		15	8	1	6	57.1		-49.99
EJ Gray (NZ)	1983-1988	10	1	4	5	16.6		28	9	14	5	64.2		-47.61
RS Kalpage (SL)	1993-1999	11	0	5	6	0.0		34	10	13	11	47.6		-47.61
H Strudwick (Eng)	1910-1926	28	8	6	14	36.3		23	13	7	3	81.2		-44.88
BK Kunderan (India)	1960-1967	18	0	11	7	0.0		18	4	9	5	44.4		-44.44
Ghulam Ahmed (India)	1948-1959	22	3	9	10	23.0		16	2	13	1	66.6		-43.58
CS Martin (NZ)	2000-2007	35	9	9	17	34.6		18	7	9	2	77.7		-43.16
Aamer Malik (Pak)	1987-1994	14	1	11	2	33.3		31	16	10	5	76.1		-42.85
CB Llewellyn (SA)	1896-1912	15	1	2	12	7.6		16	7	2	7	50.0		-42.30
WE Russell (Eng)	1961-1967	10	1	6	3	25.0		54	18	27	9	66.6		-41.66

In one-day internationals, Australia's success-rate falls from nearly 75% to below 50% when Ricky Ponting isn't playing. Australia have won 205 out of 284 ODIs with Ponting and lost 29 out of 58 without him.

Best record by a player for a team compared to matches missed for that team - ODIs (qualification: 20 matches played, 20 matches missed)

Player	Span	P	W	T	L	Car%		Missed	W	T	L	Miss%		Diff
Mashrafe Mortaza (Ban)	2001-2007	67	29	0	38	43.2		50	4	0	44	8.3		34.95
AH Jones (NZ)	1987-1995	87	40	1	45	47.0		33	5	0	26	16.1		30.96
TM Chappell (Aus)	1980-1983	20	13	0	6	68.4		40	14	0	23	37.8		30.58
SB Smith (Aus)	1983-1985	28	14	1	10	58.0		20	5	0	13	27.7		30.22
Zaheer Abbas (Pak)	1974-1985	62	30	0	29	50.8		26	6	0	19	24.0		26.84
RT Ponting (Aus)	1995-2007	284	205	5	68	74.6		58	27	0	29	48.2		26.42
CWJ Athey (Eng)	1980-1988	31	22	0	9	70.9		69	32	0	37	46.3		24.59
S Madan Lal (India)	1974-1987	67	34	0	29	53.9		48	14	0	33	29.7		24.18
Abdur Razzak (Ban)	2004-2007	52	26	0	26	50.0		23	6	0	17	26.0		23.91
Akram Raza (Pak)	1989-1995	49	37	1	11	76.5		78	38	4	34	52.6		23.89
KJ Hughes (Aus)	1977-1985	97	45	1	45	50.0		24	6	0	16	27.2		22.72
BB McCullum (NZ)	2002-2007	115	62	0	49	55.8		26	8	0	16	33.3		22.52
WW Davis (WI)	1983-1988	35	31	0	3	91.1		69	47	1	21	68.8		22.33
JE Taylor (WI)	2003-2007	35	21	0	14	60.0		59	20	0	33	37.7		22.26
GP Thorpe (Eng)	1993-2002	82	43	1	36	54.3		52	17	0	35	32.6		21.68

Former New Zealand batsman Andrew Jones had a modest one-day record: 87 matches with an average of 35, with 25 fifties and no hundreds. Perhaps the only record he holds is scoring six consecutive half-centuries, which is second to Javed Miandad's streak of nine fifties. During Jones' career, New Zealand won 40 out of 87 matches that he played, but won only five out of 33 when he didn't.

Worst record by a player for a team compared to matches missed for that team - ODIs (qualification: 20 matches played, 20 matches missed)

Player	Span	P	W	T	L	Car%		Missed	W	T	L	Miss%		Diff
Tapash Baisya (Ban)	2002-2007	56	7	0	48	12.7		47	25	0	21	54.3		-41.62
TJ Zoehrer (Aus)	1986-1994	22	8	0	14	36.3		126	85	2	37	69.3		-32.99
Tushar Imran (Ban)	2001-2007	39	3	0	35	7.8		79	30	0	48	38.4		-30.56
Qasim Umar (Pak)	1983-1987	31	10	0	19	34.4		35	20	0	13	60.6		-26.12
J Mubarak (SL)	2002-2007	28	10	0	18	35.7		115	67	1	43	60.8		-25.09
RA Smith (Eng)	1988-1996	71	27	1	40	40.4		20	13	0	7	65.0		-24.55
BM Laird (Aus)	1979-1982	23	8	0	15	34.7		23	13	0	9	59.0		-24.30
W Larkins (Eng)	1979-1991	25	7	0	16	30.4		120	65	1	54	54.5		-24.14
JA Rudolph (SA)	2003-2006	43	21	0	20	51.2		23	15	1	5	73.8		-22.59
BA Young (NZ)	1990-1999	74	20	2	47	30.4		85	43	2	38	53.0		-22.57
Mohammad Hafeez (Pak)	2003-2007	48	21	0	26	44.6		63	41	0	20	67.2		-22.53
GF Labrooy (SL)	1986-1992	44	6	0	38	13.6		26	9	0	16	36.0		-22.36
AO Suji (Kenya)	1996-2007	56	14	0	41	25.4		36	17	0	19	47.2		-21.76
RC Russell (Eng)	1987-1998	40	13	0	25	34.2		93	49	2	40	54.9		-20.73
OA Shah (Eng)	2001-2007	31	10	0	21	32.2		125	62	2	55	52.9		-20.68